I
went to Catholic grade school just after they stopped teaching the Baltimore
Catechism. Which I think is a shame for
me because unlike my parents and older siblings even, I never had the chance to
commit the Church’s catechism teaching to memory! Luckily, the entire Baltimore Catechism can
now be found with a simple google search on line for anyone who is interested.
For
those who can still remember their lessons in the Baltimore Catechism, they
will probably recall the definition of sin:
actual sin, the catechism taught, was defined as “any willful thought,
word, deed, or omission contrary to the law of God.” Now that’s as good a definition as any, but it
views sin only in terms of commandments that we are breaking, breaking the law
of God.
The
current Catechism also speaks of sin as breaking God’s commandments, but it takes
a much broader approach. The current
Catechism says that “Sin is an offense against God” and then it quotes today’s
Psalm, Psalm 51 - “Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which
is evil in your sight.” The catechism
continues: “Sin sets itself against
God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it.”
It’s
this view of sin, that sin sets itself against God’s love for us, that I encourage
you to contemplate today as we begin this season of Lent. For these forty days are a time in which we
are called to repent of our sins and turn back to God, and as Christians we are
called not only to repent of our sins but to grow and transcend our sinfulness,
so it makes sense for us to spend some time contemplating exactly what is meant
by sin.
Today’s
first and second readings, it seems to me, really call us to view our
sinfulness in terms of our relationship with God. The reading from the prophet Joel calls us to
“return to Him with our whole heart, rending our hearts, not our
garments.” Notice Joel doesn’t say “stop
doing that” or “do more of this.” He is
calling us to relationship, to a renewed and deeper relationship with our
creator. We are called to examine not
only what sins we have committed and be sorry for them, but to go deeper than
that. To recognize in our sinfulness
where our relationship with God is torn or tattered or fraying at the
edges. To ponder what exactly is it about
me and my relationship with the Lord that is at the root of my sins. Why is it that I doubt God’s love for me, or I
disregard it, or I forget about it completely, in my sinfulness?
For
at the heart of every one of our sins, you and I are in some way rejecting God,
rejecting His love for us. We tend to
think of serious sin as severing our relationship with the Lord; but I wonder
if serious sin is not the result, rather than the cause, of a damaged
relationship with the Lord. Of a
relationship in which we take the Lord’s love for granted, or worse, where we
think we can go it alone and don’t need to be concerned with the Lord. A relationship where I put myself at the
center of my life and everything revolves around me, rather than a relationship
in which God is at the center.
And
while we tend to focus on our sins of commission, or at least I do, in this
light, it’s much easier for us to see our sins of omission – not only what I
have done, but also what I have failed to do.
In what ways have I failed to respond to God’s love for me by taking
those close to me for granted? In what
ways have I forgotten God when I’ve forgotten the last and the least – when I
have neglected the poor, the elderly, the homeless, the mentally ill? In what ways have I rejected God’s love when
I have failed to love?
Thankfully,
the Church gives us these six or so weeks to retreat, if you will, as Christ
did to the desert, to step back and really ponder our lives. This is a time in which we are called to be
reconciled to the Lord – as Saint Paul urges in our second reading. To step back and really work on our relationship
with Christ. But we must recognize that
to do so, requires our time and our commitment.
It requires that we carve out a portion of each day, devoted to our
spiritual growth, to growth in our relationship with the Lord.
A
time in which we may pray more frequently and more fervently. By taking time to give alms of our resources
and our time. Through fasting and
sacrifice, which help us to appreciate God’s gifts to us, without which we
can’t help but to take God’s gifts to us for granted! By spiritual reading, meditation,
contemplation. By participating more
regularly in the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and Sacrament of
Reconciliation.
Let
us pray then that God will open our eyes and minds and hearts to see all the
ways in which our relationship with Him needs mending. And that He will give us the grace by which
we may be healed and reconciled to Him. So
that, after our forty days in the desert, we may run with joy through the
flowering garden to approach His empty tomb!
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